How Designers Can Boost Their Business with Pinterest

Pinterest is an image bookmarking tool, a social network and a genius marketing tool. You can get work, find new contacts and promote your personal brand by harnessing the power of the image-based social network.

If you are a graphic designer, interior designer, photographer, artist or illustrator you should definitely be using this powerful tool.

Pinterest is a great for gathering, organising and viewing images. It’s not just for foodies and weddings, with more designers joining daily and because of the popularity of the platform, it can be a great tool to help you to promote your work.

How Pinterest Works

Instead of simply bookmarking pages, you bookmark, share and store images and videos. If you see a photo you like you can ‘pin’ it to your virtual board with a simple click. With an interface that’s simple and easy to use, you can create up to 350 boards. These boards can be viewed by anyone that follows you, but there is also an option to create ‘secret boards’ that are just for you.

Just like Twitter you can follow other users on Pinterest and see they’ve been pinning on a personalised homepage. You can then re-pin any images you like to your boards and like Facebook you can ‘like’ and comment on anything you see to enhance the popularity of that site.

See it. Pin it. Store it.

Use Pinterest to create themed inspiration boards of things you like and images that relate to your style. These can include looks, styles, textures, shapes and even colours. Doing this is a great way to create a library of inspiration material for you to reference in your own work. There’s even an iPhone app so you can pin on the go.

Build Your Brand

At the moment your online presence probably consists of a portfolio site and social networking on the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest is another channel for you to continuously build your personal brand. As with any social network you do this by participating in conversations, making connections and establishing your profile.

Creating boards of your own with your best work on it will give you more exposure on the web, attract likes and draw comments. It can also be re-pinned by other users and in turn reach a wider audience. When doing this, be sure to include your name/business name in the image description or even your website so people know where to find you!

There are numerous global brands like Topshop, Sephora, Oscar de la Renta, Victoria’s Secret and even Etsy that have seen the huge potential of the social networking site and have taken full advantage of the consumer interaction and appealing aesthetics that are on offer.

Connect

Pinterest should be a vital part of every designer, artist and creative’s social media strategy alongside Facebook, Twitter, Behance, Delicious etc. With the ability to follow other users it’s easy to keep an eye on studios, illustrators, photographers and designers that you like. By following, commenting on and sharing their content you can encourage them to look at your boards in return and therefore raise your profile.

Your ‘about’ section is also very important as it lets people know what you do and who you are. Including relevant keywords here can help people find you too, especially if they’re looking for a particular type designer. And again, include a link to your website.

Mood Boards

If you’re working on a project for a particular client you can create a mood board or examples board that they can view. This is an extremely convenient way to display and collect concept ideas and material, and the client can view it at their leisure all in the one place. If you don’t want everyone to be see your board you can even create a ‘secret board’.

Pinterest also allows you to invite others to contribute to a board. This makes it particularly easy for projects involving multiple people.

Pin it to Your Site

You may already have Facebook and Twitter buttons on your website but you can also have a Pinterest button. Adding a ‘pin it’ button makes it easy for other Pinterest users to share your content and in turn will make it easier for you to be found!

Sell Your Work

You can use Pinterest as a generator to promote and sell your work. Even big brands like Asos are now using the social media platform to show off their products with links to buy them under each image.

For any designer or creative, Pinterest is an exceptional way to market yourself, your business and your brand. It can be used as a secondary resume and an add-on to your portfolio. Pinterest is extremely important for visual designers, web developers and photographers because it is a visual medium, so make the most of it!